Dark Embrace (Principatus) (39 page)

Melbourne, Australia. Six months later

The constant
thump-thump-thump
of the loud, monotonous music pounded against Ezryn’s head. He suppressed a scowl, scanning the club’s writhing patrons mashed against each other on the tiny dance floor with feigned disinterest. The Sang Frais might be Melbourne’s premium nightclub catering to the city’s paranormal world, but it was a far cry from the Pleasure Pussy. For starters, there were no fae strippers copulating on the stage. For another, they didn’t serve Carpathian mountain water.

Ignoring a particularly determined human female’s efforts to gain his attention, he took a sip from the sweating glass in his hand.

The single-malt scotch whiskey slid down the back of his throat with ease but did little to calm his thirst. Only one thing did that now, and Inari was currently nowhere to be seen.

He didn’t like that. Not one little bit.

His mouth filled with saliva at the mere thought of his bound mate, the sweet taste of her blood, the heady scent of her sex, and he growled, the sound rumbling deep in his chest like thunder. Where was she?

“Here, lover.”

Her soft voice tickled his left ear. He turned, snaked his arm around her slim waist and yanked her against his body with preternatural speed and strength, letting his agitation and instant desire throb through their bond. “Dark Ones, you’ve had me worried, Principatus,” he murmured, gazing down into her face. “And angry. Where have you been?”

She slid her fingers up his chest, pressing herself closer to his body. “You were worried?”

He smoothed his hand down her back and cupped her ass in a firm hold. “Yes.” The exquisite muscles of her butt flexed under his touch, and for a split second, he wanted nothing more than to rip the skin-tight leather pants she wore from her body and sink his fangs into one of her ass cheeks. Slake his thirst. Feed his hunger. But neither he nor Inari was here for fun, at least not
that
kind of fun. Inari had work to do. A task long overdue and weighing heavily on her soul.

He held her close, wanting her to feel every second of careful warning he would not express in words. He knew her well, and telling her to be careful would only irritate her. Instead, he let his thoughts open to her. She released a soft sigh, the coiled tension in her body relaxing for a brief moment before she stiffened and pulled slightly away.

“He’s leaving,” she murmured, skimming her fingers down his chest in an act he knew was designed to appear casual and fitting to their current location. Her stare, unwavering and icy cold, tracked someone moving behind him. With a silent snarl, Ezryn narrowed his senses onto Inari’s prey, and a vile stench filtered into his nose like poisoned fog.

He straightened, shooting a quick look over his shoulder at the creature responsible for such a foul odor.

Without a word, Inari turned and walked away from him, weaving her way through the packed club, disengaging herself from more than one overenthusiastic grope as she did so.

Ezryn clenched his jaw and followed her, keeping his control firmly in check. He’d seen her do this many times. He knew she was more than capable of handling it, but
this
target,
this
job, was different. Personal. And in Ezryn’s mind, that made it dangerous.

Icy cold air wrapped around him as he stepped from the Sang Frais
,
the Melbourne winter attacking with savage gusto anyone foolish enough to be outside at four a.m.. He ignored it, his attention focused solely on Inari.

She stood on the footpath, the glossy waves of her black hair whipping around her face, her lithe body coiled and honed to a perfection he could not describe, her eyes green fire. Yet beneath her sensual beauty, the power of her
croi
thrummed, growing closer to release, stronger with every second. His spine tingled at its nearness and his fangs extended.

She turned her head and nodded to him.
“This won’t take long.
”

Unnerving unease churned through him, but he hid it, cocking an eyebrow in return. “Show-off.”

She stepped off the footpath onto the deserted road, following her target as he made his way down King Street. She moved like fluid steel, and Ezryn’s chest constricted. She was powerful, deadly and sensual in every way he could imagine. And she was his. How had that happened?

“Stop it. You’re distracting me.”

He snorted at her silent reprimand and took his own step off the footpath, the icy wind lashing at him as he followed her path.
“Be careful.
”

She didn’t respond, and he saw why. Her prey was about to turn the corner into a narrow alley sandwiched between two dark office blocks. Perfect.

A wave of prickling heat blasted at him and his spine tingled again, seconds before Inari quickened her pace to a blurring sprint. Heading for the nameless alley.

He burst into a run.

The alley’s shadows folded over him as he entered the narrow mouth, the stench of piss, vomit and sex assaulting his nostrils. He scowled, scanning the darkness for Inari.

She stood but a few meters away, her legs spread, her booted feet planted firmly on the ground. The winter wind did not reach them here, and her hair fell down her back in a mass of tousled waves, looking for all the world like she’d just spent an hour or more in bed. He narrowed his eyes, moving closer to her on silent feet, his stare sliding to the creature pissing against the brick wall of the south office block.

His spine tingled again, his balls grew heavy, his chest tight.

“You really are a disgusting creature, aren’t you?”

Inari’s casual comment shattered the thick silence of the alley. The urinating empathic leech demon jumped and spun around to gape at her, a pungent stream of piss arcing from his jutting dick. “You?” he gasped, eyes widening. His stare snapped to Ezryn and he hissed, shoving his dick back into the folds of his flesh. “What? You need a vampire to help you now, slut?”

Before Inari could respond, Ezryn burst out laughing, raising one hand in a dismissive wave. “Dark Ones, no.” He chortled, shaking his head, his spine tingling hotter, hotter. “I’m just here for the show.”

And he took a step back as Inari leapt at the repulsive leech, watching her transform mid-air into her Principatus form, her talons sinking into the demon’s neck, slamming him against the brick wall. “My sister sends her condolences, fucker,” she whispered, the words full of deadly promise as she hooked her fingers into a deadly weapon. “And her goodbyes.”

She struck out, the first blow of many to come. The punishment of a Principatus, the vengeance of a sister. And this time Ezryn knew Inari would not let the leech escape.

Ezryn felt a wide smile pull at his lips as he watched his lover at work. He crossed his arms over his chest, leaned his shoulder against the brick wall beside him and let out a contented sigh. Dark Ones, she was magnificent. And he loved her. By the Powers and God, he loved her.

“The way it is,” he murmured, the blazing heat of Inari’s deadly, righteous power surging though their bond to make his heart burn. “And the way it will
always
be.”

About the Author

Lexxie Couper started writing when she was six and hasn’t stopped since. She’s not a deviant, but she does have a deviant’s imagination and a desire to entertain readers with her words. Add the two together and you get romances that can make you laugh, cry, shake with fear or tremble with desire. Sometimes all at once. When she’s not submerged in the worlds she creates, Lexxie’s life revolves around her family, a husband who thinks she’s insane, an indoor cat who likes to stalk shadows, and her daughters, who both utterly captured her heart and changed her life forever.

Contact Lexxie at
[email protected]
, follow her on Twitter
www.twitter.com/lexxie_couper
or visit her at
www.lexxiecouper.com
where she occasionally makes a fool of herself on her blog.

Look for these titles by Lexxie Couper

Now Available:

The Sun Sword

Tropical Sin

Suck and Blow

Triple Dare

Dare Me

Love’s Rhythm

Sunset Heat

Suspicious Ways

Muscle for Hire

Principatus

Dark Destiny

Savage Australia

Savage Retribution

Savage Transformation

When it comes down to love or duty, pick a side—and pray your heart survives.

Dark Destiny

© 2009 Lexxie Couper

Principatus, Book 1

Death exists for one purpose and one purpose only: to sever the life-threads of the living. She does her job with pride and an unwavering commitment. Nothing ruffles her. Until she encounters Patrick Watkins. The Australian lifeguard pushes all her buttons—and makes her tailbone itch like crazy. And when her tailbone itches, it means trouble is brewing. Big trouble.

Ven’s gut tells him that Death is taking aim at his kid brother. He should know—he died and was turned vampire while trying to prevent another failed murder-attempt eighteen years ago. Patrick is meant to do something important in the world, and Ven will do anything to keep him safe. Even take on Death herself. In more ways than one.

As far as Patrick’s concerned, the whole thing is a load of bull. But what if everything Death tells him turns out to be true? How is he expected to save mankind from the worst fate of all—the Apocalypse? Especially when all he can think about is how quickly he’s falling in love with the most feared Horseman of them all…

This book was previously published under the title
Death, the Vamp, and his Brother
.

Warning: This book contains enough heresy to shame the Devil, more scorching sex than one person can handle, Oh, and lots of Australian colloquialism. A bloody lot of Australian colloquialism.

Enjoy the following excerpt for
Dark Destiny:

Fred walked away from the lifeguard, the stiletto heels of her boots not even remotely sinking into the soft white sand. The coastal breeze caressed her face and arms and she pulled in a long breath, enjoying its heat even as the blazing midday sun sucked the moisture from the flesh of the humans—oblivious to her existence—around her. Summer in Australia. Hot. Hotter. Hottest. She was glad she’d ditched the stifling cloak.

Adjusting the sunglasses on her face, she sidestepped a teenage couple making out on a beach towel, casting them a detached yet curious look. He would live for another sixty-five years before dying in a car accident, she would die in five years of advanced skin cancer. Fred
tsked
, noting the gleaming oil smeared over the girl’s bare flesh. As if humans didn’t have enough to deal with in their short time, they had to go and seek her out any chance they could, all in the name of beauty.

She shook her head, following the waterline away from the commotion still unfolding behind her. The paramedics would not revive the drowned man, no matter how skilled or tenacious they were. All she’d left them was an empty skin-wrapped lump of meat and bones.

The icy tingle in the pit of her belly she experienced after every claiming whispered through her, feeding her magic. It nourished her power, sated the demon within. Today however, it also felt wrong. Not because the soul she’d removed from the mortal coil—Richard Michael Peabody—was a closet pedophile who deserved to die. That very morning he’d raped—for the tenth time—his six-year-old niece while his twin sister attended a doctor’s appointment. Fred felt no remorse for Peabody. The human male deserved to have his life extinguished. He most
definitely
deserved the eternal damnation awaiting him. When it came to mortal monsters like Peabody, Fred enjoyed her job. But today, even with the tingle in her core and the sure knowledge of just punishment about to be met, she felt conflicted.

Every soul she claimed, every life thread she severed she did with pride. Her purpose was ultimate. Life could not exist without Death. If she didn’t do what she did, humanity would pay the price. That didn’t mean however, that she was emotionless. She felt no pity for Peabody, really, who would? But she couldn’t help feel sorry for the lifeguard who’d tried so hard to save him.

She’d seen many EMOs at work, but none were as aggressively determined to thwart her work as the lifeguard. It was as though the very idea of losing Peabody assaulted him. Wounded him. Raw energy had poured from him in intoxicating waves as he’d fought to save the vile man’s life, almost as powerful and energizing as the sun above.

Uninvited, an image of the lifeguard filled Fred’s head and she pulled in a soft, appreciative breath. Now
there
was a tenacious son of a bitch. Not just tenacious, but damn fine to look at as well. Tall, lean and sinewy with smooth skin kissed bronze by the sun and shaggy blonde hair bleached golden by its solar rays. His eyes were a fierce, piercing green, his nose strong and hawkish, his lips totally kissable even when clenched together in stubborn denial.

A soft beat pulsed between Fred’s thighs and she took another swift breath, surprised at the reaction. It had been a long time since she’d been aroused by a mortal. The last—an arrogant but brilliant Roman general with a nose just like her lifeguard and a succinct way with words—had dumped her for a snooty Egyptian queen with an asp fetish.